


A Way to an End

by Idrelle_Miocovani



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Death, Drama, Gen, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 00:21:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14532606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idrelle_Miocovani/pseuds/Idrelle_Miocovani
Summary: When Nil invites Aloy to a hill at sunset, she isn't entirely sure what he has in mind. His proposal isn't one she expects.





	A Way to an End

**Author's Note:**

> This is an extension of a canon scene in the sidequest "Cause for Concern". Some dialogue is from the game and therefore property of Guerilla Games.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

“So, what do you say? How about we try to kill each other?” 

For a moment, Aloy thought she misheard. Her encounters with the man standing so casually in front of her have always been… odd. Fleeting, intangible and more often violent than not, encountering Nil was like getting caught out on the plains during a dust storm. His bloodthirst didn’t come from a place of vengeance or a need to exude power, it was something much more natural. He lived it, he breathed it, and he would seek it out until his heart stopped and he himself turned to dust. Aloy didn’t know what had made him this way. War, death, massacres… there were a hundred reasons.   

She no longer cared to question it. 

Aloy observed Nil, tension coiling in her arms and legs, fingers curling tight around her spear. Her eyes narrowed, squinting against the rays of a setting sun, watching him as he thumbed his bow, his fingers running over the machine parts that plated its limbs. Her mind raced to untangle his words, repeating them over and over as if her Focus has the moment on replay. 

 _What does he want? Why would he ask me this?_  

Aloy’s jaw clenched, her teeth grinding painfully. She remembered the first day, creeping over the knoll with Nil crouched at her side, their feet nearly slipping on grass slick with rainwater, grass that was soon slick with blood. While Aloy killed to protect, Nil killed because that was who he was: a killer. 

After that day, she could never quite ally, but fighting alongside someone created an undeniable bond. She would never call Nil a friend, but Aloy trusted him not to put an arrow in her back. 

“Speechless, I see,” Nil said, the corner of his lip curling ever so slightly into a smirk. “Or do you not take well to flattery?” 

“Why would you think this is flattery?” Aloy snapped. A flush stung her cheeks.   

“You tell me,” Nil replied, spreading his hands. “Are you flattered?” 

“That you want to fight me?” 

“Not fight you.” Nil thumbed his bowstring. The horizon behind him shone a brilliant cloud streaked red. “A fight is simple—two opponents scratching at each other, clinging to life, the victor the most desperate of the two. Fights are unplanned, unexpected, an unwilling cause of death. Those bandit leaders you slaughtered with such finesse? You killed them in a fight. There is no satisfaction there, save for the knowledge that you are the undisputed victor. What I propose is far more elegant.” 

“I don’t see how killing someone you know is _elegant,”_ Aloy began. 

“Of course you don’t,” Nil said. “You are resistant to what you are—” 

“I’m _nothing—”_  

“And I don’t expect you to have a sudden change in heart,” Nil finished. “Though, should that occur, I would embrace it fully.” He smiled again, teeth just barely showing in his smirk. “Someday, you will understand. Perhaps it will be today.” 

Aloy rammed the butt of her spear into the dirt. “Why is it that every time we meet, I think you’re going to be different?” she said. “I think you’ll change and then I’m sorely disappointed.” 

“Ah,” Nil breathed. “And there it is. That unquenchable hope. It is delightful, truly.” 

Aloy crossed her arms, fingers digging into the machine plating that adorned her Carja blazon. “I’m glad I amuse you.” 

“Intrigue, not amuse.” 

“I can hear you laughing.” 

“It must be your imagination. Or a trick of the wind.” Nil cocked his head, his clear eyes lingering on the side of her face. “Perhaps that contraption on your ear hinders you as much as it aids.” 

Aloy grunted and resisted the urge to touch her Focus. “What do you want, Nil? Why did you bring me here?” 

“I’ve already told you.” 

“I’m _not_ going to kill you.” 

He clucked his tongue. “Giving up so easily? That doesn’t sound like you.” 

“I’m not going to kill you because there will _be_ no fight,” Aloy snarled. “I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“Even though you detest me?” Nil’s voice went cold. He turned away from her, climbing a few steps up a rock that jutted out of the hill. As he looked out at the lush rainforest below, his profile went dark as a cloud passed over the sun. “I am despicable. I am rotten. But I am honest. I have never lied to you, Aloy. I have never pretended to be something I am not. Not even to gain your favour.” 

A lump formed in Aloy’s throat. She ignored it. 

“You have killed men who have done less harm than me. You have witnessed their wrongdoings and saw fit to pass judgement on them.” 

“They were bandits, Nil,” Aloy said, voice cracking from the dryness in her mouth. “Cultists, slavers, rapists… People who hurt others because they thought it was their _right.”_  

Nil looked at her. “And have _I_ not done that very same thing? Have not you?” 

 _“I_ don’t kill unless I have to,” Aloy said darkly. 

“But kill you have, nonetheless. Were you right?” 

“They would have killed me,” Aloy said. “Or someone else—” 

“But does that make it right?” Nil interrupted. 

Aloy backed away. “This is not a game I’m willing to play—” 

“Then tell me this,” Nil said. “Who is to judge us, huntress?” 

Aloy stopped. Her teeth tore at her bottom lip as a thousand refutes flooded her mind, each one weaker than the last. Some small part of her, tucked away in a place she didn’t want to think about, thought Nil spoke true. Since this all began, she had done what she had needed to do, checked by nothing except her own moral compass. Had she ever been wrong? Who _was_ to judge her actions? The High Matriarchs? Avad? Whatever pieces of GAIA remained? 

 _None of that matters,_ Aloy thought. _None of that matters while HADES advances on Meridian. The world is bigger than the Nora or the Carja or Nil can imagine. You can have a crisis of morality_ after _HADES dealt with._

“There doesn’t need to be any judgement!” 

Nil shook his head, disappointment in his eyes. “No,” he sighed. “There will always be judgement, one way or another.” 

Nil drew a knife, the blade shining in the setting sun. He flipped it in his hand, the blade dancing between his fingers, then deftly caught it. He turned and jumped off the rock, striding through the grass. Aloy wrenched up her spear and lowered the point, taking a few steps backwards as Nil stalked towards her. 

“Nil—wait—” 

Nil stopped, shrugging nonchalantly at her. The smirk was back, but this time it felt forced. “I propose a duel, Aloy,” he said. “If it helps, think of it as our judgement on each other. Or think of it as two warriors desperate to see who can be the ultimate victor. We’ll fight to the death and we’ll savour it, because we only get this one time. A fitting end to either of us, don’t you think?” 

 _I don’t have time for this_. 

“There’s another way,” Aloy said. 

Nil chuckled. “I’ll humour you, but I doubt it. There are only two ways this can end. With you dead. Or with me.” He flipped his knife and raised it, pointed aimed at her heart.    

“Or with neither of us.” Aloy pulled her spear back, resting it on the ground as she extended her free hand. “Come with me to Meridian. There’s an enemy coming for it, one greater than any you have faced before.” 

“And what kind of enemy is that?”   

Aloy paused. 

 _How to explain it?_  

“A god,” she said. 

Nil’s eyes danced as he laughed, body shaking. “You would not kill me, but you would kill a god?” He closed his eyes and breathed, the remaining sunlight burning gold on his face. He exhaled, peering at her. “Ah, Aloy… it will an honour and a tragedy to kill you.” 

He grasped her hand and pulled her close. His fingers burned against her skin, digging into the back of her hand. It occurred to Aloy that he had never touched her before. She watched as he stood still, a breath away, studying her intently. 

It was a long time before either of them spoke. The sun disappeared behind the mountains, leaving a trail of burnt gold in the darkening sky. 

“Do you accept my proposal?” Nil said. 

“What if I say no?” Aloy murmured. 

“I won’t force you. You are so conscientious. I wouldn’t pressure you into something that wasn’t genuine.” Nil smiled grimly. “And death is nothing but genuine.” 

Aloy wished she could look away, but she couldn’t. “If this is how it has to end, Nil…” 

“Everything does.” 

“Then let’s finish this.” 

Her hand left his. 

Not long after, her spear would find his heart. She would strike him down as the last vestiges of daylight fled from the sky. Under the light of a bright moon, a bloody smile would play across his lips as he murmured his final words. 

And Aloy would kneel in the grass by his side, hands over his as she watched this man who was neither friend nor enemy die.

**Author's Note:**

> This is intended as tribute to the fact that in my first playthrough, I killed Nil. I personally think that Aloy wouldn't kill him outright (a thought that I think is backed up by his appearance in the final battle), but should she get to the point where that happens, I thought their conversation could both use a little more development.


End file.
